10glo
CLIENT
Vincent Ragosta Inc.
TECHNOLOGIES
WordPress, PHP, JavaScript, REST API, Stripe Connect, Video.js, AWS S3
YEAR
2021
EXTERNAL URL
A video-first social media platform for the performing arts community — custom user profiles, video upload and playback via AWS S3 and Video.js, a Stripe Connect tipping system, and community interaction tools. The most technically ambitious product I have built, extending WordPress well beyond its typical CMS role into a full social application.
Architected and built independently through Vincent Ragosta Inc.
Background
The performing arts needed a digital stage with no gatekeepers.
When COVID-19 shuttered Broadway and theaters worldwide, thousands of performers, composers, choreographers, and designers lost their primary venue for being seen. The traditional discovery pipeline — auditions, showcases, festivals costing $50,000 or more to produce — had always been expensive and geographically exclusive. The pandemic exposed just how fragile that system was. Daniel Kuney, a Broadway general manager behind shows like Rock of Ages, Puffs, and Heathers, envisioned a platform that could remove those barriers permanently: a social network built exclusively for theater artists, where anyone could share their work without an application process, a paywall, or a New York City zip code.
The brief was ambitious — build a video-first social platform that combined the discoverability of YouTube with the professional networking of LinkedIn, purpose-built for an industry that had never had a dedicated digital home.
Implementation
A video-first social platform built on WordPress with custom application logic at every layer.
I architected and built 10glo on WordPress, extending it well beyond its typical CMS role into a full social media application. The user registration and profile system supported bios, headshots, external links, and categorized content feeds — giving performers, composers, and choreographers each a dedicated portfolio page. The video pipeline handled upload, transcoding, storage on AWS S3, and adaptive playback via Video.js, keeping the experience fast regardless of connection quality or device. A custom REST API powered frontend interactions including commenting, following, and content discovery without full page reloads.
The monetization layer used Stripe Connect to enable direct tipping — viewers could financially support any artist on the platform, with funds routed directly to the performer’s connected Stripe account. Content moderation tools, role-based access controls, and a notification system rounded out the social infrastructure. The frontend was built responsive-first, optimized for mobile — critical for a user base that would be filming and uploading from phones backstage, in rehearsal studios, and at home.
Results
A new digital home for theater artists — from Broadway casting directors to first-time performers.
10glo launched as the first social network purpose-built for the performing arts, attracting artists across every discipline — actors, singers, composers, choreographers, and designers — from around the world. The platform eliminated the geographic, financial, and institutional barriers that had historically controlled who got seen. Broadway casting offices like Eisenberg/Beans Casting ran discovery challenges directly on the platform, giving emerging talent a direct line to industry decision-makers. Artists used 10glo to share works-in-progress, full productions, concert footage, and educational content — all without an approval process or paywall.
10glo proved that a niche social network could be built on WordPress with the performance and feature depth of a custom application — video upload, real-time interaction, payment processing, and user-generated content at scale. It remains the most technically ambitious product I have shipped as a solo developer, and the clearest demonstration that WordPress can be pushed well beyond content management when the engineering is sound.
